“Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success”. Stephen Covey

Does your team communicate well? Does your team understand the culture? If the answer is ‘no’ to any of the above read on.

There are many activities, tools and techniques available to the team leader in order to develop a winning team, but what is right for you? A great deal of money is spent on team building programmes at work but do they really work? Building your team is not like building a house it is more like building a sustainable relationship. In the current economic climate, customer insecurity and keen competition has seen some companies go to the wall. Teams have become much leaner over the last few years and teams need to be ready to adapt and change to respond to the competitive field in which they operate. The steps outlined here can also be used to develop team work in your personal relationships at home with your family, friends and personal networks.

When thinking about developing your team there are two main issues to consider. The team culture and how the team communicates both internally and externally.

Culture
The team culture is often made up of the values, vision, philosophy and mission of the organisation. Once these areas are clear and everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing the way forward can be forged.

Communication
How key messages are communicated is a key factor to successful team working. Communication is one of the fundamental processes that is the basis for almost all activity in organisations. It is the process through which we conduct our lives and work.

A step by step plan to create your winning team

• 1-1 sessions with staff to understand individual perspective. What motivates people? Do people understand their roles and the expectations of the organisation?
• Conduct a team survey – what do the individuals say about themselves and what do others outside of the team say about them?
• Establish the teams identity, including identifying the teams values, vision, purpose and culture. This should be done together as a team not done to the team and given to them as a done deal.
• Develop a clear communication strategy to ensure cascade of key messages and develop interpersonal skills within the team. It is also important to work on how people interact as a team, developing listening skills, building rapport, reading body language, reflecting upon how the team works as a norm and giving and receiving feedback from team members.
• Develop a team action plan together so that everyone takes ownership and wants the team to be successful.

These steps are intended as a guide for developing teams and not a quick fix. Team development, like a relationship takes time to develop and with the right set of circumstances, a group of people can develop into a highly effective participative motivated team. However evidence suggests that the process can be accelerated if there is total commitment of the team leader and the overall decision maker.

The Change Agency can help identify what it is that you want to do to develop your team. We can help you to identify your team priorities and long term goals and work out how you are going to get to where you want to be.

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